HP ENVY Notebooks

The first generation of HP ENVY notebooks were unfortunately let down by comparisons to the superior Apple MacBook Pro laptops which they shared a large amount of styling with and unfortunately shared the rather steep pricing. This coupled to some glaring omissions, like the lack of an internal optical drive and feeble connectivity of the 13” model, led to an uninspired attempt at entering the premium market.

Fortunately HP have decided to give these models are significant overhaul, and they now showcase HP’s “MUSE” design ethos, which stands for Materials, Usability, Sensory appeal, and Experiences. The new 14" and 17" ENVY models couple this premium design philosophy with features like slot loading optical drives and backlit keyboards to hopefully deliver on style and substance this time around.

The HP ENVY 14 features a 14.5” 1600x900 display that they claim is 59% brighter than any other notebook in its class. It features a 1.1” thick aluminum chassis weighing in at 5.25lbs. Performance is provided by Intel Arrandale Core i3 and i5 processors with an option to use a quad-core Clarksfield i7 processor—pretty amazing in this size of notebook. Graphics are the standard integrated Intel HD Graphics of the i3/i5 CPU, or an optional ATI Mobility Radeon 5650 (standard on the quad-core i7 model). This is supported by up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM.

Fortunately, a slot loading DVD writer is incorporated into the chassis, while mass storage consists of a 250, 320, 500 or 640GB HDD or a 160 or 256GB SSD. Connectivity includes three USB 2.0 ports with one doubling up as an eSATA port, HDMI, SD/MMC card reader, headphone and microphone ports (the latter doubles as a second headphone port), and gigabit Ethernet. WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n comes as standard with optional 3G/GPS connectivity. A 1280x720 webcam is provided with dual integrated microphones.

The ENVY 14 is available with Windows 7 Premium, Professional or Ultimate 64 bit stating June 27 at HP Direct starting at $1000—$200 cheaper than a 13” Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro and $800 cheaper than a Core i5 15” MacBook Pro!

The HP ENVY 17 features a 17.3” a 1600x900 display (a 1080p option is available) in a 7.51lb chassis. Intel Core i5 and quad-core i7 CPUs are available with ATI Mobility Radeon 5850 graphics making these real powerhouse notebooks. The ENVY 17 supports up to 8GB DDR3 RAM. The larger chassis provides two storage bays allowing the user to choose from a combination of 320, 500, 750GB and 1TB HDDs and a 160GB SSD. A DVD writer or Blu-Ray drive is available.

Connectivity includes two USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 (finally!) port with an eSATA port sharing one of the USB 2.0 ports. VGA, HDMI and Mini-DisplayPort provide video output while a 5-in-1 card reader, headphone and microphone (which doubles as a second headphone port) round out the connectivity. Ethernet and WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n provide networking. A 1280x800 webcam is provided with dual integrated microphones.

The ENVY 17 is available with Windows 7 Premium, Professional or Ultimate 64 bit from 19^th May at HP Direct starting at $1400, which is $900 cheaper than the 17” MacBook Pro. What remains to be seen is how well the ENVY notebooks do in terms of battery life; Apple's MacBook Pro sets a high bar there, and it will take a lot for a Windows 7 notebook to match the 6+ hours Apple typically achieves.

HP Pavilion Notebooks

Whilst the new ENVY notebooks are certainly very tempting, the HP Pavilion series also has four new models. As this is HP’s mainstream notebook brand, they must be both very good and affordable to tempt customers away from the numerous alternatives. The following models will be available starting May 19 at HP Direct, in a wide variety of colors and configurations.

The HP Pavilion dm4 is a premium class product with a 14” LED backlit display in a slim full-metal chassis coming in at under 1” and 4.4lbs starting at $730—a bit too much in my opinion, despite the metal chassis. More affordable entries into the HP Pavilion series are the dv5 and dv6, which offer both AMD and Intel-powered models with up to 1TB of storage and superior audio components such as Dolby Virtual Surround Sound and Altec Lansing speakers. They are both available with a choice of colored chassis imprints including Black Cherry, Champagne, and Sonoma Red. The HP Pavilion dv5 features a 14.5” display starting at $650 while the HP Pavilion dv6 features a bigger 15.6” display with optional touch support and starts at $530 for the AMD machines and $650 for the Intel powered units.

A larger HP Pavilion dv7 will also be available with up to 2TB of storage from $800. And for those that like netbooks, there's the HP Mini 210, with updated exterior designs.

HP Business Notebooks

Rounding things out are a selection of new business orientated notebooks. These products fall into the premium HP ProBook S and B Series products and the entry level 425/625 models. The ProBook computers provide various business targeted tools, such as HP Day Starter, HP QuickLook 3, and HP QuickWeb that provide instant access to email, calendar, contacts, tasks and the internet. HP Power Assistant also serves to conserve power and provide the user with an accurate representation of remaining battery life.

The HP ProBook B-Series are available with Intel processors (models 6450b and 6550b) or AMD processors (models 6455b and 6555b). The 6450b and 6455b feature 14” LED backlit displays while the 6550b and 6555b feature 15.6” LED backlit displays. The AMD models feature AMD VISION Pro technology with Phenom II, Turion II, Athlon II, and V-series processors, with availability in June starting at $780. Meanwhile the Intel models feature Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, with the i5 and i7 versions available with Intel vPro technology. They are also available with onboard Intel HD graphics or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 540v discrete graphics. The Intel models launch in June, starting at $860.

The HP ProBook S-Series consists of three models coming in at 13.3” (4325s), 14” (4425s) and 15.5” (4525s), all of which have LED backlit displays and brushed aluminum chassis. They include the same VISION Pro technology and processors as the B-Series notebooks, and will have either ATI Mobility HD 4250 integrated or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 530v discrete graphics. HP claims these machines are 69% faster than the previous generation of AMD notebooks. The notebooks also feature touchpads with gesture support. They are available in May starting at $620. Finally, HP have launched two entry level business models, the HP 425 with a 14” LED backlit display and the HP 625 with a 15.6” LED backlit display. Both are powered by AMD processors and are available in May starting at $550.

Wrap-Up

In summary, there are a lot of new products from HP, most of which won’t set your pulse racing. However, we noticed two interesting aspects with the announcements. First, the large number of AMD VISION/VISION Pro equipped models is a break from the norm, and some of these are in the same product space as their Intel counterparts. They will inevitably fall a little short on performance and battery life (judging by other AMD-equipped laptops), but they do have a price advantage. That may be the most important factor in the buying decision, especially for cost-conscious business users.

The second thing, something that perhaps does set the pulse racing, is the new ENVY models. The previous generation models were generally dismissed as poor MacBook Pro copies; one glance at the spec sheet and photos of these models shows these machines look to be every bit as good as the MacBook Pros—and perhaps even better. The price is a good place to start, but we await final hardware and testing results before we can declare a victor.